State Rep. Dennis Baxley, who just one year ago announced he would seek the State Senate District 5 seat held Charlie Dean, said last week he will instead seek the District 12 seat.

Baxley, who campaigned heavily in Levy County to succeed Dean who is being forced to retire by term limits, said the suit that forced the redrawing of Senate districts “has shifted my plans for the Florida Senate.”

The water temperatures have slipped into the low seventies this past week and with the warmer temps more species have returned. Spanish mackerel catches are more common each week, and several species of sharks have returned to our local waters. I would like to report one particular blacktip shark who is not observing the fifteen inch minimum on spotted seatrout as it ate two short trout within a few feet of my vessel last Thursday. Good luck digesting the leadhead jigs that were included in those meals.

A man charged in the death of Helen Bishop, 96, on July 10, 2014, has been given five years probation and the judge withheld adjudication of his guilt.

Michael Hancock, a deputy city clerk for Cedar Key, was arrested Oct. 30, 2014, on a charge of aggravated manslaughter of an elderly person and given a $5 million bond by Levy County Judge James Browning. In a later hearing, Hancock was released on his own recognizance but with terms that dictated his activities and curfews.

The annual meeting of the Friends of the Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges is on Saturday, March 19 beginning at 10 a.m. at the Refuge Headquarters near Fowlers Bluff, 16450 N.W. 31 Place, Chiefland.

There will be a keynote speaker and an update on Friends' plans and a great lunch.